Child Safeguarding: Safe and secure programmes for children

Save the Children Sweden’s Child Safeguarding Policy

This policy relates to the Child Safeguarding Protocol of the global Save the Children Association. The Protocol was adopted in March 2010 and describes the policies and procedures that all member countries and Save the Children International are required to introduce to make sure that all the children with whom we are in contact are respected and that their right to freedom from all forms of intentional or unintentional injury, discrimination, violation, violence, and sexual assault and exploitation in the organisation’s programmes is recognised.

Save the Children Sweden’s work aims to ensure that the rights of all children are recognised in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 19 of the Convention describes how the State Parties shall protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse. Save the Children Sweden considers that all the above entails a violation of children’s rights and that all children have the same right to freedom from such violations.

This policy is a complement to Save the Children Sweden’s Ethical Guidelines and Guidelines for Voluntary Work Within Save the Children Sweden, and covers Save the Children Sweden’s responsibility for protecting all children in our programmes from all forms of injury, abuse and exploitation. The Ethical Guidelines set out the professional conduct and good practice expected of Save the Children Sweden’s staff and representatives in relation to children. The Guidelines for voluntary work set out what is expected of all members and volunteers working within Save the Children Sweden.